CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Monday he is concerned about plans to further ease indoor dining restrictions in New York City and will not speed up plans to reopen his Brooklyn restaurant, closed in Covid, in the United States. May.
The city’s restaurants will be able to expand up to 50% occupancy from Friday, based on the current 35% policy. The move comes as coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out in the United States, and as some states, such as Texas, are abandoning pandemic-era restrictions on businesses, including mask warrants.
Recently, Cramer has been the target of the timely reopening of the Cinco de Mayo, after having “wrecked” the restaurant in early October due to coronavirus concerns and the difficult economy of operating at a fourth indoor capacity. . The Cinco de Mayo, celebrated on May 5, is a Mexican holiday that marks victory in a key battle against France in 1862.
“We’re staying in May. We want to do everything right,” Cramer told Squawk on the street Monday. “I think a rush to open is a mistake.”
“I just don’t think we know enough yet. We don’t know enough about the viral load. We don’t know enough about what the actual number should be in a bar,” Cramer added. “I just don’t want to be involved with anything that we have so few facts about. But then again, that’s been the state of this issue all along: the little we’ve really known.”
According to the CDC, the risk of Covid transmission increases with the indoor dining room, especially when the tables are not separated by a minimum distance of 6 feet. This led to the imposition of strict restrictions on the catering industry during the pandemic, which caused many to close permanently, as turning profits into low-margin business became even more difficult.
At the start of the pandemic, warmer weather allowed for what is considered the safest outdoor food in much of the country. But as the winter weather took over the northeast and even in some parts of the south and southwest this year, outdoor food became scarcer.
On Friday, New York State restaurants outside the city will go to 75% of their capacity.
In the nearby city of Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont allows restaurants and some businesses to return to 100% capacity on Friday. However, social distancing between tables and other precautions, such as masks, is still required.
Lamont defended the policy adjustment in a CNBC interview last week, citing the current Covid case count and high vaccination rates among senior residents as justification. “The difference between 75% and 100% in a restaurant is very difficult to apply anyway and frankly we thought we have a very low infection rate right now, a lot of capacity in our hospitals,” he said. on March 8th. it was time to make the change. “
Coronavirus cases in the United States have fallen sharply since the January high, prompting state and local leaders across the country to reduce restrictions as more Americans are vaccinated. However, the number of new infections remains high, averaging more than 50,000 a day, with more than 1,350 people dying a day from the virus in the past seven days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
As of Sunday night, 21% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of vaccine, including 63.4% of people age 65 and older, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . More than 80 percent of Covid-related deaths in the U.S. were people 65 years of age or older, according to CDC data.
The top health officials in the United States, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, has warned about easing Covid restrictions too soon.
Texas Republican government Greg Abbott, for example, said his state was “100% OPEN” earlier this month, no masks needed.
“When I feel completely withdrawn from public health measures, not saying more masks, nothing like that, this is a risky business,” Fauci said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
“If you wait a little longer to give the vaccine program a chance to increase protection in the community, it makes the withdrawal much less risky,” Fauci added on “Fox News Sunday.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the indoor dining capacity in New York City that is currently limited to 35%.